Happy Year of the Horse! by: Aubrey Groves

Sometime around January and February, depending on the moon, the people in many different Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year. Shouts wishing people good fortune, wealth, progress and smooth sailing can be heard around this time. Another facet of greetings that may be heard or seen pertain to the animals of the out-going and in-coming years. These animals are part of a 12 year zodiac cycle that stems originally from an ancient Chinese legend.

There are many variations on the legend, but one version goes that the Jade Emperor invited all of the animals to a feast in Heaven. On the day of the feast, the order in which the animals entered into Heaven determined the order of the zodiac. The rat, being small and clever, jumped onto the kind ox's back and thus entered Heaven first. The animals in order are: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. The 2014 year is a horse year, just as the years 1906, 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990,  and 2002 are also horse years.

If a person is born during the lunar year of a specific zodiac animal, then they are considered to embody the qualities of that animal as seen in Asian cultures. For example horses are thought to be great communicators, "clever, kind to others, and like to join in a venture career. Although they sometimes talk too much, they are cheerful, perceptive, talented, earthy, but stubborn" (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse.htm).

These signs can also predict who will be a good match for someone. Horses are excellent matches with "Tigers, sheep, and dogs," but horses should "avoid rats, oxen, and rabbits"(http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse.htm).

Some famous Horses over the years are:
Louisa May Alcott, Chopin, Davy Crockett, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Sandra Day O'Connor, Rembrandt, Teddy Roosevelt, Sir Isaac Newton, Barbara Streisand, Cindy Crawford, Cynthia Nixon, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Jason Biggs, Jackie Chan, Jerry Seinfeld, John Travolta, Leonard Bernstein, Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Rembrandt, Ashton Kutcher, Emma Watson, Josh Hartnett, Katie Holmes, Kristen Stewart, Kobe Bryant, Genghis Khan, Emperor Kangxi and Yongzheng of China’s Qing Dynasty (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse.htm)

What people may not often know is that not only is your zodiac personality determined by the year you were born, but it is also determined by the month, day of the week, day, hour and minute that you were born. Also, five elements influence the different years of the zodiac. Those five elements are wood, water, fire, metal, and earth. This horse year is a wooden horse year, and a wooden horse will manifest slightly different personality traits and develop differently than a fire horse or a water horse, for example.

So the next time you see your Chinese zodiac on a place mat or hear mention of it around this time of year, you will know more there is more to the story than that you are one animal or another. You are made up of a specific mixture of animals and elements down to the minute you were born. You are a horse of a whole different color!

Happy Year of the Horse!